


Sheleth & Bsictiu

by lizard_socks



Series: Rootstock: Origins [5]
Category: Star Trek
Genre: A Character Is Already Dead When It Starts, Couple With Political Differences, F/M, FASA, Flashbacks, Gun Control, Wakes & Funerals, alien gender roles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-25
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-15 18:07:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29687877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lizard_socks/pseuds/lizard_socks
Summary: 2399. Bsictiu was a member of Clan Noe, a family of violent raiders on Kashet, but also a loyal Starfleet officer. Sheleth was someone who held political opinions he found unsettling, but also the only person whose patterns of thought and speech reminded him of his own. And, held together by a yearning for connection and their distaste for their own people, they were willing to make compromises to stay in each other's lives.Told in a series of flashbacks, and contains spoilers for some of the backstory in season 1 of Picard.
Series: Rootstock: Origins [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2163357
Kudos: 3





	Sheleth & Bsictiu

**Author's Note:**

> It's been centuries since the overthrow of the patriarchy on Kashet, but the conflict never really went away. It didn't help that the new regime was more concerned with pushing men down than raising women up, at least until joining the Federation made them straighten up their act.
> 
> You might think that Bsictiu Noe, son of the Clan Noe raiders, and Sheleth, niece of the city's governor, could never be together. But it turned out that the solution was pretty simple.
> 
> They just needed to join Starfleet.

Stardust City  
2399  


_What wonderful weather for a funeral._  


That's what Bsictiu would have thought if he'd been here to see it. Sheleth wondered if he had arranged this somehow, if his last will and testament had asked to hold his memorial service for a rainy day.  


It was apparently at his request that the funeral was being held on Freecloud, a loosely governed planet in an isthmus between Klingon and Romulan space. Sure, it was easy for visitors to get in and out of without going through too many hoops, but given that neither of them knew anyone on the planet, she couldn't help but read something into that decision. He was a Kasheetan and a Starfleet officer like her, but he'd come from a very traditional, conservative family in Clan Noe, and the logical choice would have been to hold the funeral on his homeworld, where his family could attend. And yet he'd brought it here, a place where he knew no one. Only a couple of his relatives had made the trip. Sheleth did her best to stay away from them.  


She gravitated towards the left side of the tent, where Bsictiu's old crewmate, the Voth expatriate Regan Torra, was sitting at a nearby table.  


"Are you a family member of his?" Torra asked.  


"Yeah, kinda," replied Sheleth. "I was his wife."  


* * *

Kashet  
2387  


Sheleth bundled herself up as much as she could, and stuffed a couple electronic tail warmers in her coat for good measure. The cold, snowy environment of Kashet might have been tolerable for the Andorian ambassadors and civic servants, but it wasn't suitable for beings like her. Not anymore, at least.  


When any other Kasheetan urbanite looked outside the dome at the ice and snow, they would think of the patriarchy that had made it that way. The men who had ignored the warnings, destroyed the environment, and killed much of the planet's population. When Sheleth looked outside, she thought of Bsictiu.  


Which was maybe kinda the same thing.  


"You've got to be kidding me, Shelly." Bsictiu approached from around the snowbank with a shovel strapped to his back. "You're coming all the way out here again? When you've got an apartment that's _warm_?"  


"It's not _my_ apartment. It's the governor's." In other word's, it belonged to her aunt, as much as she hated to admit it. "Besides," she added, "this is the only way we can talk."  


"Like it's any safer for _you_ to be _here_?" asked Bsctiu.  


"At least it's me taking the risk," Sheleth said. "Listen, my parents are gonna chew me out for this if they find out."  


"They will. You can't hide something like this. But you know what? I don't give a crap. I don't care what your parents think. I don't even care what you think."  


"Wow." Sheleth rolled her eyes.  


"They're the ones making you choose between me and them."  


Sheleth grimaced. "Bsictiu. Your cousin broke into my cousin's house and _tried to kill her._ "  


"Is that what you think happened?"  


"Attempts on people's lives tend to overshadow everything else you do. People can't live like that. Especially not in the Federation."  


"Oh, and living out here is fine," said Bsictiu sarcastically. "In a literally _freezing_ environment. What a great place for giant lizards like us."  


"Whose fault is that?"  


"Really. You're gonna blame me for something that happened ten generations ago." Bsictiu threw up his hands. "Why do you even bother to come out here? Seriously. What do you get out of this?"  


"Who else am I going to talk to?" Sheleth glanced back in the direction of her home. "At least, without having to feel bad about myself. Nice thing about you is, I can say whatever I want because I don't care what you think."  


Bsictiu came in closer so he could speak more quietly. "Don't tell my family this," he said, "but I think them trying to fight you all is a terrible idea. And I'm not just saying it for you."  


"That's hardly a resounding rejection of reactionary principles."  


"And that's how you know I'm being honest, okay? They're never going to succeed. They've been failing for over two hundred years now."  


Sheleth took a step back and leaned sideways against the piled snow. "Tell me this, biscuit," she said. "Why do you still talk to them? Doesn't that normalize their behavior?"  


"This sort of behavior _is_ normal for us in Clan Noe," Bsictiu said. "It's been normal for over a century, ever since the new world order locked us out. What did you all think was gonna happen? And besides, what other options do I have?"  


"Move to the city," said Sheleth. "Like everyone else did."  


"I'm not moving to Lo' Luth, Sheleth, not even for you. You don't want to forget what the men did to you? We're not gonna forget what the women did to us. Locking us out of any position of power. Not even letting us learn to read."  


"That was before we joined the Federation."  


"I'm not denying that. But everyone who looks at me, they're never going to see me for who I am. All they'll see is the patriarchy."  


"And all your people see when they look at me," said Sheleth, "is their oppressor."  


"I mean, there's only two options in this world, right? It's just, decide who you hate." Bsictiu kicked aside a chunk of ice. "Or, I suppose, decide who you want to hate you."  


"Couldn't agree more. And how does no one else see it that way?"  


Bsictiu chuckled. "I wouldn't be so sure about that. Some of the Andorians have been poking around here recently."  


"What's so suspicious about that?" asked Sheleth.  


"Weren't you the ones who invited them? Do you really think your governor would want them to see how we're living out here? How do you think _they_ see it?"  


"You don't think they'll take our side?"  


"Of course not! These are the people who figured out how to get along with the freaking _Vulcans_. When they see us, still out here, not part of society? Doesn't matter how many crimes we commit, Sheleth - the fact that we exist is going to raise some red flags. At least, for anyone who hasn't learned to look past it yet."  


"I hope you're right, Bsictiu." Sheleth looked around at the expanse of snow. "And you know what? I'm gonna do my best to make sure of it."  


* * *

Earth  
2392  


"I'm nervous, Bscitiu." Sheleth clasped her small reptilian hands together as she stood along the side of a hill, next to an old bridge, and looked out over the bay. "It's hard to find people who understand this, but... this isn't just a short-term thing for us. I doubt either of us is gonna live past thirty-four."  


Bsitiu nodded. "Starfleet is going to be our whole lives, probably."  


"In other words, no children."  


"I figured as much. I mean, how would we raise them?"  


"We would get into _so_ many fights. It's for the best." Sheleth turned to her right and looked across the bridge. "Speaking of lifespans. You're an engineer, right? Know anything about this bridge?"  


"Well, it was built for automobiles originally." Bsictiu strolled over to the blocked-off entrance. "At one point, it carried six lanes of traffic. But not always an even three and three. A lot of people lived on the north side and worked on the south in downtown San Francisco. The government had special cars they'd drive across the road to move the barriers from one side to the other at certain times of day."  


"How?"  


"They went through the car. It's really cool looking. Someone should make a holo of it."  


"My professor said the bridge has been standing for 455 years now," Sheleth said. "How's that even possible?"  


"I'll tell you how," said Bsictiu, laughing. "It's a sham. They've rebuilt the thing over and over, just 'cause nobody wants to see it go. They don't even let people walk on it anymore. Guess it can't support the weight."  


"So that's why the solar panels are there?"  


"I'll give them credit, at least it's not wasted space. But would it kill them to be honest about it?" Bsictiu sighed. "That's the thing I can't stand about this planet. It's this human-Vulcan insistence that they've somehow grown beyond their worst elements. First of all, it not-so-subtly implies that people like us are immoral savages."  


"Or at least big ol' failures." Sheleth nodded. "Drives me crazy."  


"And second," added Bsictiu, "it's a lie. They didn't grow beyond anything. They just either killed or exiled the people who were causing them problems. You know what you call a pre-reformation Vulcan? A Romulan." He looked over at Sheleth. "You're probably wondering why I haven't dropped out of the Academy."  


"You like guns?"  


"Can you really call a phaser a gun if it doesn't use projectiles? Besides, I have some at home. Thing is... the rest of Starfleet isn't like this. It's not like Earth. We're aliens, and they can just send us to an alien ship where the people are more, well, tolerable." Bsictiu picked up a rock and tossed it into the bay. "And for all the stuff the matriarchy has done to Clan Noe, I'm glad they got Kashet into the Federation. It's a dangerous galaxy, and being under Starfleet protection is the only thing that keeps our homeworld from being a casualty of war. I figure I can help give something back. Even if it's just a little." He turned to Sheleth. "What about you? Why are you still here?"  


"I didn't just join Starfleet to be with you," Sheleth said, "if that's what you're asking. I did it to get away from my parents."  


"Still not talking to your mom?"  


"Nope. Not unless I stop talking to you, and that's not going to happen. You?"  


"My dad still calls me," Bsictiu said. "I know you hate him."  


"Yeah," admitted Sheleth. "But I'm not gonna ask you to cut him out of your life. He's your father, for goodness sake. And he ought to have _someone_ reasonable to talk to."  


* * *

USS _Rhode Island_  
2394  


"This isn't actually my office," said Regan Torra, the young Voth crewman, as she took a seat behind the desk. "They don't give offices to people their first week on the ship."  


"It's true, though?" Bsictiu asked. "That you're an SLP?"  


Torra nodded. "I have a master's from Maryland in speech-language pathology."  


"Then how'd you end up here?"  


"I missed space," Torra said. "I grew up on a gigantic starship halfway across the galaxy, and this is the first opportunity I've had to get back out here since I got stranded on Earth as a teenager. I know I won't get a lot of chance to actually practice what I learned, but I think this is what I needed right now."  


"Well, I'd certainly appreciate if you could help me out with my articulation of Federation Standard," said Bsictiu. "I know the language, but it wasn't designed for a Kasheeta's vocal folds. My speech doesn't have to be perfect. But if I'm ever on an away team, I just want to be understood without having to rely on the universal translator. Although..." Bsictiu sighed as he dipped his head. "My concerns at the moment are a bit more... pragmatic."  


"How so?"  


"I get the impression that the captain wants to assign me to a regular bridge duty shift," Bsictiu said. "But whenever I'm there, filling in for someone, I feel like I'm making people uncomfortable. Nobody really wants to talk around me. I just want to make sure I'm not doing anything wrong."  


Torra paused. "I lived on Earth," she said. "Starfleet's culture is a lot like theirs. And every culture has certain boundaries."  


"This is about my family, isn't it?"  


"Aren't they some kind of terrorist group?"  


"They are," Bsictiu acknowledged. "And it's not like I take orders from them. But they're still my family."  


"Some of the crew members, it might be the only thing they know about you. Whatever you do or say, they're going to interpret it in that context. I'm afraid all you can really do is keep that in mind, and know how your statements are going to be perceived."  


"That's what I thought," said Bsictiu. "At least it's not anything I didn't know about. I do feel like - and this isn't a speech pathology question, but I feel like there's this pressure on me. That people won't give me the time of day unless I write my family out of my life altogether. I know some people do have to cut those ties, for their own sake. But if I did that, what would I have left? Sheleth would be the only person who loved me, and when your species only lives thirty-some years, you can't put all your eggs in one basket."  


"If people are putting undue conditions like that on you, can't you just... not interact with those people, then?"  


"But I don't want to be cut off from them, Regan. I just" - Bsictiu shrugged. "A lot of the people I admire, people who make things I love, are on one side of this giant chasm, and my family, the only people who really seem to care deeply about me, are on the other."  


"If it helps," said Torra, "not everyone's like that. My cousin, he wants to be friends with everyone. No matter what kind of terrible stuff they did. And I feel like _that's_ the prevailing attitude in Starfleet, too. Maybe not universal, but certainly the majority of the people I've met."  


* * *

H'atoria  
2396  


"Do you know how many favors I had to call in to get here, Bsictiu?"  


"One?"  


Sheleth grunted. "I'm an ensign. I get one favor a year, tops. And I had to spend it to get us here, just because you don't want to vacation on any of the hundreds of Federation planets."  


"We already went over this," said Bsictiu. "I don't feel safe when I'm not with the other crew. Not without a weapon."  


"Nobody is going to _attack_ you on Vulcan!" Sheleth turned away from him and looked out the window, her tail almost knocking over a lamp in the process. The walls in the hostel they had checked into were bare brick, the rooms well-maintained but with all the character of an unfinished basement. "You have a problem, Bsictiu. You wouldn't even visit the Starfleet Archives with me 'cause they made you leave your phaser outside. You don't need to cling to it everywhere you go!"  


"Maybe _you_ don't need to. But don't you understand why I might not feel safe?" Bsictiu began to pace around the room. "It's not that I think someone is going to threaten me. It's that there's nothing stopping them. Sure, they'd get caught, but that doesn't do me a lot of good if I'm already dead. And more and more planets are like this now. The way the Federation's going, I might not even be able to arm myself back on Kashet pretty soon."  


"So what?"  


"Maybe you don't remember my family's hundreds-year-long insurrection? You think I'd be around if my parents and grandparents didn't have guns?"  


"We wouldn't have killed them," Sheleth said.  


"No. You'd have locked them up and stopped them from having children. I wouldn't exist, that's for sure. And I doubt the Federation would have stopped you. They only care about what happens on the big planets. You of all people should know that. We launch dozens of terrorist attacks on your city and they don't lift a finger. One happens on Mars, and they ban synths across the _whole_ Federation. Don't be surprised if personal weapons are next."  


"And so what if they are?"  


"Really?" Bsictiu leaned against the cold brick wall. "Besides the obvious diplomatic issues with the Klingons?"  


"I know you're never going to feel comfortable without a phaser on you, but you're going to have to get used to it." Sheleth crossed her arms. "There's a reason almost every Federation member has put limits on firearms. It's the only effective way to stop people from using them on each other. I wish it wasn't, but that's just how people are."  


Bsictiu stopped and stared at Sheleth for a few seconds.  


"Um..." He looked down at his shoes. "Is that marriage offer from yesterday still on the table?"  


"Wait, what? Weren't we just fighting about gun control?"  


"Sheleth, you're the only person who's honest with me. Everyone else, when they take your position on things like this, they try to convince me that my problem doesn't exist, that my feelings aren't real. Not you. Sure, you'll screw me over, but you acknowledge that you're doing it. You decide that it's worth it to hurt me, instead of pretending that you're not."  


"What's the difference?"  


"One is a defensible position. The other is a narrow-minded worldview in which people like me don't exist. And that's the thing with you, Shelly. You make me feel like I do exist. You don't agree with me a lot of the time, but you think the same way as me, and you talk the same way, and you understand me."  


* * *

Earth  
2397  


Sheleth and Bsictiu stood side by side in the snow, bundled up in thick jackets.  


"Just like Kashet, eh?" Sheleth asked.  


Bsictiu held up his rifle and looked to the electronic targets across the track. "A lot better maintained, I'd say."  


Sheleth put her hands on her hips. "So this sport \- you race on skis, and then when you get to a certain part, you have to shoot an old-timey gun a few times before you can keep going?"  


"Yeah."  


"That sounds ridiculous."  


"You could say that about any sport." Bsictiu strapped the rifle to his back. "The point isn't how realistic it is, or whether it serves some sort of purpose. The appeal of biathlon is... well, it's like chess boxing. It's the challenge of having to go all-out on the course, trying to go as fast as you can through the snow, and then having to stop and calm down enough to nail the target."  


Sheleth laughed. "Who even taught you about this, biscuit?"   


"Torra mentioned it during one of our sessions. She was adopted by earthlings, you know. Figured I'd check it out." Bsictiu started strapping his thick reptilian feet into the skis. "It's a little tricky to get the hang of it when you're not a humanoid, though."  


"Tell me about it. Every time I see a chair..."  


"Yeah, we can't sit in those things!" said Bsictiu. "You know what, Sheleth? I'm thinking maybe you could help me with an instructional holoprogram. Something to help other non-humanoids learn the sport."  


"I don't know how much help you need from me," Sheleth said. "You've got a pretty good handle on holoprogramming yourself."  


"I'd still appreciate it. Your work is rock-solid, you know that."  


* * *

Shuttlecraft _Dot Matrix  
_2399  


Maybe it was a cultural thing, but Bsictiu was the kind of guy who never felt the need to look into the camera when he made a video call.  


"I'm gonna die, Sheleth." He hunched over the transporter controls and tried to make some adjustments. "I didn't know if I should tell you, but I figured you'd want me to."  


"Where are you?"  


"A shuttlecraft from the _Monitor_. It's trapped in some sort of subspace anomaly - I can't explain it, exactly, but it doesn't seem to have any adverse impacts on organic life. It's messing with the computers, though. Melanie was in rough shape, but I got her out, so she'll probably make it."  


"But can't you get yourself out too?"  


"The only way I could get the transporter working is with manual control," Bsictiu explained. "And it has to be from the outgoing side of the transport - too much interference to go the other way. Anyway, someone had to stay here to operate it. With just me in it, this shuttlecraft's got four hours of life support left."  


"But the crew of the _Monitor_ \- won't they be looking for you?"  


"They know where I am. Whether they'll be able to get me out is another matter. So far, the best they could do is send someone else here to get me back out, but - I mean, what does that solve? Whoever they send is probably gonna be a bigger loss than me anyway."  


"Not to _me_ , Bsictiu. Please, just... Don't give up so quickly, okay? Maybe they will find a way to rescue you. If you can stick around for as long as possible, that'll give them the best chance."  


"Oh, I know they'll try," Bsictiu said. "I just don't see how they're gonna pull it off. The shuttle can't get out of here, nobody's gonna be able to pull it out without risking their _own_ ship..."  


"You said four hours of life support, right? How long would the transporters last?"  


"Probably nine or ten. Problem isn't them - it's the dilithium that regulates the reaction in this shuttlecraft's warp core, and there's no way to eject it from here, not with most of the computers down. Eventually this thing's gonna explode." Bsictiu sighed. "It's the part before that I'm worried about, though. The shielding's not great, and it's going to get unbearably hot in here well before that happens."  


"Could you move yourself to the transporter buffer?"  


"Like the girl on the _Baku?_ "  


"I was thinking of the matter stream capsules on the pocket monster planet," Sheleth said. "But your example's better. Either way, it gives them the longest time to rescue you... and it saves you from a painful death. I figure after saving everyone's lives, it's the least you deserve."  


"You really do understand me, Sheleth. In a way only another Kasheetan could." Bsictiu smiled. "It's just too bad we didn't get to spend more time as a couple."  


"At least I got to marry you, Bsictiu. If I hadn't, I would've regretted it forever."  


* * *

Stardust City  
2399  


"I don't know if I can stay in Starfleet," Sheleth said. "I thought I was gonna do this my whole life, 'till I got to 35, but... It's just going to remind me of him."  


"He'd be proud to know that there was someone who pictured him when they thought of Starfleet," said Torra. "When I served with him on the _Rhode Island_ , he was one of the most loyal officers I'd ever seen."  


"So you didn't go with him to the _Monitor_?"  


"No, I got my SLP license back up to date and transferred to Jupiter Station. It's grown a lot in the past fifteen years, and not just Starfleet - civilians too."  


Sheleth nodded. "I'm probably not going to stick around my ship that much longer, to be honest."  


Another alien approached the table. Sheleth followed Torra's gaze as she turned to look at the pale golden creature, who, even standing, met Torra at eye level.  


"Pyrite?" asked Torra. "How'd you get here?"  


"Remember how I told you our empire was between Klingon and Romulan space? It's not far from here. I figured I should come."  


"Plus, there's not much of an empire anymore, is there?"  


"You're right. Which is probably for the best, but I don't have much to go back to."  


"Pyrite, this is Bsictiu's wife Sheleth," Torra turned to Sheleth. "Sheleth, this Pyrite."  


"I was the bad guy," Pyrite said.  


Torra rolled her eyes. "She helped us rescue the crew of the _Baku_."  


Pyrite took a seat at the table. "I heard you were talking about leaving your ship too," she said to Sheleth. "Any idea where you'll go next?"  


"Are you looking for something too?"  


"I'm over four hundred years old," said Pyrite, "but I've never had to find a job before. I don't know where to start. Freecloud seems a bit too... loosey-goosey for me."  


"Well, I can't vouch for anything in particular," Torra told them. "But I was just talking with an old acquaintance of mine who left Jupiter Station a year or two back for the Ferengi Alliance. Apparently there are companies on Iroshar looking for off-worlders for their starship crews."  


"How well's it pay?" Sheleth asked.  


"And will we have to save the universe?" added Pyrite. "I don't like stressful situations."  


"From what I know about you two," said Torra, "I'm sure you'll have plenty of opportunities to find the right fit."  



End file.
